1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for indicating a mileage corresponding to remaining fuel for vehicles, which is designed to indicate the mileage or range which can still be traveled by a vehicle in accordance with its remaining fuel quantity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The term "fuel consumption" is used in the specification to mean a traveled distance per unit fuel. It is also referred to as the rate of fuel consumption.
Methods and apparatus of the above type heretofore known in the art include one in which each time a unit quantity of fuel is consumed the momentary fuel consumption (or the distance traveled) is multiplied by the then remaining fuel quantity to determine the mileage or range which can still be traveled, and another in which the average fuel consumption obtained in accordance with the amount of fuel consumed and the distance traveled in an interval between the time of filling the fuel tank and the next filling of the fuel tank, is multiplied by the current quantity of fuel remaining in the fuel tank so as to determine the mileage or the range which can still be traveled.
However, in the case of the former method, since the mileage corresponding to remaining fuel is indicated by utilizing the momentary fuel consumption which is subject to a considerable variation in accordance with the running conditions of the vehicle, the indicated mileage corresponding varies considerably. In particular, there is a disadvantage that if the remaining fuel quantity is large, the degree of such variation increases in proportion to the remaining fuel quantity. The latter method is also disadvantageous in that since the mileage is indicated by utilizing the average fuel consumption so that the indicated mileage decreases in proportion to a decrease in the remaining fuel quantity, due to the fact that no consideration is given to the running conditions of the vehicle, the indicated possible mileage at each time of the vehicle running is not high in reliability and particularly the proper mileage cannot be indicated if the remaining fuel quantity is small.